President Obama today in Chicago / Carolyn Kaster, AP

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

As he has done on most voting days, Obama played pick-up basketball with a group of friends -- including a pro basketball Hall of Famer.

And Obama's team won (though we always wonder how hard the president's team is contested).

Scottie Pippen, who with Michael Jordan helped lead the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles in the 1990s, joined the game at a Chicago gym.

From the pool report: "Obama friend Alexi Giannoulias tweeted (@giannoulias) that he is playing on a team with Pippen and POTUS, with (former aide) Reggie Love and (Education Secretary) Arne Duncan on another team. Giannoulias also tweeted that former Bull Randy Brown is involved in the game."

Giannoulias, the former Illinois state treasurer and 2010 Democratic US Senate nominee, described the game for reporters:

The two five-player teams played four 12-minute quarters. Referees were brought in to call fouls. Each team had substitutes, though Giannoulias did not know exactly how many. The Potus team won by "like 20," with a score of "like 102, 105, 108 or so to 80-something."

The teams: Obama was player-coach of his team, which also included Giannoulias and Pippen. On the other team were Duncan, Nesbitt and Brown.

"It was a lot of fun," Giannoulias said. "We won. I scored more points than Scottie Pippen, which was my dream come true."

Giannoulias said Potus "played very well" but did not say how many points he scored. Giannoulias scored 32, he said, and Pippen 21.

Giannoulias declined to identify the game's other participants.

The basketball game broke up a series of interviews by satellite that Obama is conducting with television stations in swing states. The president also visited a Chicago campaign office.

Obama skipped his Election Day basketball game only once -- the 2008 New Hampshire primary, the one he lost to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Never again, Obama vowed.

Also from the pool:

"Motorcade rolled through a gray and drizzly Chicago before arriving at 1:07 p.m. at the Attack Athletics facility on W. Harrison St., where POTUS will play basketball with "friends and staff," per an aide.

"According to attackathletics.com, Tim Grover (trainer to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and other hoops stars) owns this 65,000-square foot facility, which has seating for 1,000 people. None of those seats will be used by the pool, which is holding in the van while the game takes place. "